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Orgo-Life the new way to the future Advertising by AdpathwayThe earthworks that ancient societies constructed over millennia are remarkable. When indigenous people modified their landscapes and built monumental structures, they could use only human muscle and simple hand tools—but they clearly had a sophisticated understanding of scientific and engineering concepts. The massive stone blocks of Stonehenge, the Egyptian pyramids, Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, and Machu Picchu in Peru, are among the most famous monumental features—but somewhat surprising to me when I first learned about this—there are also impressive ancient monumental earthworks in the Mississippi River region of central and southeastern North America.
Monumental structures are those that have an unusual form and scale that significantly exceeds what people need for practical function. Size is significant, but even more important is the tremendous amount of human labor involved. Monumental landforms and structures can involve thousands of workers, toiling over years, decades, and even centuries. They represent enduring evidence of notable and historically significant achievements of the societies that created them.
The cultures that built monumental constructions used locally sourced materials—granitic rocks, sandstone, and limestone in the Andes Mountains and the Egyptian deserts, and deep soils in central and southeastern North America. Ancient builders used wood for structures when available, but its perishable nature limits the evidence available today.
In the southeastern United States, ancient people were building enormous earthen mounds by 3700 BCE, or possibly as early as 5000 BCE. This was early in the history of monumental structures in the Americas — on the Pacific coast of Peru, similar mounds were built around 3000 BCE, and in southern Mexico (Mesoamerica) not until about 1000 BCE. For millennia, indigenous North American people erected characteristic earthwork mounds by carrying and placing untold millions of basket loads of soil. These builders constructed structures that were typically flat-topped pyramids, cones, or elongated ridges, frequently associated with large and flat plazas.
Monks Mound at Cahokia, now in Illinois; note people on top and vehicle below for scale (2024, Wikipedia)
Centuries ago, hundreds of these ancient monuments were recognized; since that time agricultural and urban developments have destroyed many of these features. Fortunately, in 1848, the Smithsonian Institution published a volume titled Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, by Ephraim G. Squier and Edwin H. Davis. The catalog of sites, together with the surveys, sketches and descriptions recorded, continue to be valuable to modern archaeologists. The overall record we know, however, is like a puzzle with many missing pieces.
Researchers believe that most of the cultures that created monumental structures had hierarchical societies and an elite group capable of directing hundreds or even thousands of workers in digging, transporting, and shaping layers of soil and rock. Agricultural societies built many monumental features, including Stonehenge in England and some temple complexes in Peru, where crop surpluses allowed higher population densities and the stratification of societies. In contrast, hunter-gatherer cultures constructed the earliest mounds in North America long before agricultural production, social stratification, and pottery were in use.
Artist’s conception of Watson Brake, an archaeological site in Louisiana that was built and occupied 3500 BCE, approximately 5400 years ago (2016, Wikipedia)
Ancient Mounds Built by Hunter-Gatherers
Among the oldest of the monumental landscapes in North America is Watson Brake, located in the floodplain of the Ouachita River in northern Louisiana. Earthwork construction at the site began around 3700 BCE, and possibly as early as 5000 BCE. When radiocarbon dates established the great antiquity of the site in the 1990s, archaeologists had to revise dates of the oldest earthwork construction in the Americas by nearly 2,000 years. At this site, ridges in an oval shape nearly 900 feet (270 m) across connect eleven conical or dome-shaped mounds that are as much as 25 feet (7.6 m) high. Members of a hunter-gatherer society, who likely occupied the area only seasonally, constructed these mounds over about 500 years.
Around 2,000 years later, ancient people built monumental earthen structures at Poverty Point, in present-day Louisiana (the name comes from a 19th century plantation on the property). The complex has six crescent ridges built in a concentric arrangement and separated by gullies or swales. The builders leveled land to construct a flat central plaza that is enclosed by the innermost concentric ridge. Enormous earthen mounds are also part of the complex. The largest of these mounds is 72 feet (22 m) tall at its highest point. The construction of these features continued in phases for about 500 years, in an occupation area that extended for over three miles (5 km).
Aerial photo of Poverty Point, Louisiana, in 1938, retouched, US Army Corps of Engineers (Wikipedia)
The scale of the ridges at Poverty Point is so enormous that researchers recognized the complex only when they could see the patterns on aerial photographs. The approximate diameter of the outermost ridge is three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km). Today, the height of the ridges varies up to about 6 feet (10-185 cm) above the adjacent swales, but they were likely originally constructed higher.
Cahokia, the Newark Earthworks, and other Monuments Built by Agricultural Societies
An impressive ancient complex of mounds, including circular, square and octagonal enclosures and known as the Newark Earthworks, is located in modern central Ohio. Built between about 100 BCE and 400 CE, these monuments are reportedly the largest earthen enclosures in the world. Together with other ancient earthwork sites in Ohio, collectively known as the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks complex, they represent the most extensive concentration of ancient Native American monumental landscapes in North America.
The Octagon Earthworks, a part of the Newark Earthworks, comprises an enormous octagon connected to a circle and a large mound. Researchers have found that the structures align with points over which the moon rises and sets over the course of the 18.6-year lunar nodal cycle (or lunar standstill), when the moon reaches its most extreme high and low points in the sky, so the positions of the mounds comprise a lunar observatory. The Observatory Circle is 20 acres (8 ha) and 1,054 feet (321 m) in diameter. This circle has the same area as a nearby square enclosure, and the same diameter as two circles at other Hopewell sites in Ohio. Fascinating, IMO!
Aerial photo of Newark Earthworks, ca. 1980s (Wikipedia)
A large and influential ancient city known as Cahokia, now in Illinois and constructed between about 1000 CE and late 1300 CE, once included about 120 massive earthworks. Today, only about 80 of those mounds remain. The structures include a flat-topped pyramidal structure known as Monks Mound that is over 100 feet (30 m) tall (photo at top of post). Archaeologists believe a circle of large timbers, known as Woodhenge, served as an astronomical observatory at the site. The Cahokia settlement once covered around 6 square miles (16 km2) and at its height held 20,000 to 30,000 people. It is the largest pre-Columbian archaeological site north of Mexico.
At some monumental earthwork sites, builders constructed mounds in the shapes of culturally significant animals. The famous Serpent Mound, found in southern Ohio, undulates for over 1,348 feet (411 m) in length and ranges up to 3 feet (0.91 m) tall and 20 feet (6.1 m) wide. Radiocarbon dating shows his monument was built around 300 to 100 BCE and subsequently repaired by a different society about 1100 CE.
The Serpent Mound, now in Ohio (2013, Wikipedia)
Pondering the Meaning of Monumentality
Archaeologists have lots of theories about why monumental features were constructed and the purposes they served. Many societies of varying antiquity and with different economies and complexity adopted and later abandoned mound building in North America. Over time, the use and symbolism of earthworks surely changed, but without written records, researchers can only speculate about their original meanings.
Early monumentality worldwide shares a few common threads. People universally equate conspicuous consumption of resources—from construction labor to materials—with power. The show of power could have been for the benefit of residents and visitors, or for deities in the spiritual world. Many of the structures were burial and/or ceremonial structures. Mound building could have been appeals to deities in response to floods, droughts, earthquakes, and other natural hazards that plagued society. At Watson Brake, archaeologists have found that bursts of building activity corresponded with well-documented episodes of climate disruptions associated with El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climatic events.
No one really knows for sure why these impressive monuments were built. Nonetheless, they are an indicator of the amazing talents and rich heritage of our ancestors.
Artist’s conception of the Poverty Point archaeological site near Epps, Louisiana at it’s height, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2014, Wikimedia)
Map of the Newark Octagon as enshrined in the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This site was developed and used as a golf course but recently has been transferred to the Ohio History Connection. (Gold lines show above grade sections; red lines are World Heritage site boundary and blue lines World Heritage site buffer.) (2021, Wikipedia)
Artist’s conception of Cahokia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2019, Wikimedia)
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